


“Maitané Aldona, Tenth Handmaiden in the Third Class for Padmé Amidala”

by Polgarawolf



Series: Star Wars: You Became to Me [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Handmaidens, Insanity, Mental Breakdown, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Prisoner of War, Psychological Torture, Sacrificial ethics, Suicide by combat, Torture, War, War Crimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-13
Updated: 2007-10-13
Packaged: 2017-11-13 08:12:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/501351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polgarawolf/pseuds/Polgarawolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is fifteen random but chronological moments from the life of Maitané Aldona, who is, quite literally, the tenth (and so final) handmaiden in the third training class of potential handmaidens chosen from among a large pool of applicants for the job for the newly elected Nabooian Queen Padmé Amidala. There is an actual story here – one small thread among the vast woven tapestry of life that is the living history of the galaxy, stretched out and twisted, knotted into the whole, curled down among the roots of time, connecting various moments together – but one must read between the lines to capture it. It is not precisely the truth, for the subtle story of these moments is sketched out here in words, and, in the sin of writing down a life, it inevitably changes the shape of things. But it is nevertheless a form of truth. (From a certain point of view . . . )</p>
            </blockquote>





	“Maitané Aldona, Tenth Handmaiden in the Third Class for Padmé Amidala”

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning: 1.)** This story functions as a sort of compressed codex for Maitané Aldona’s life, as she is going to be written (or at least referred to) in my not even nearly complete AU **Star Wars** series **_You Became to Me_**. If anything doesn’t make sense, please feel free to ask! **2.)** Please keep in mind that Maitané is not entirely sane, after being tortured by Lietté (with some help from Roché)!
> 
>  **Author’s Notes: 1.)** Again, this is compatible with my SW AU series **_You Became to Me_** , including my _Thwarting the Revenge of the Sith_ trio, if you squint at a couple of things sideways and view a few others solely through the lens of Maitané Aldona’s eventually not quite sane eyes. **2.)** Although this is technically modeled on a prompt set that I borrowed from somewhere on the LJ (I don’t recall from where anymore, though if someone would like to set the record straight, I’ll add the info for the community in question here in my notes), it’s not really meant to function as a response to that set's challenge. I just used the specific prompts to give me a reason to string together a backstory of sorts for Maitané. **3.)** Readers might want to consider the fact that Maitané, like a lot of native Nabooians, is fairly strong in the Force, but that she hasn’t received any training whatsoever to speak of and so has no real conscious control over that sensitivity to the Force. **4.)** Readers interested in knowing who the physical models are for original characters like Maitané should please consult the latest versions of my posted lists of cast original and EU characters and for handmaid(en)s and other important Nabooian characters, which are available on my LJ! For clarity’s sake, though, Maitané is modeled on a teenaged Jena Malone, and Sabetha Aldona should be pictured as (an approximately sixteen-year-old, when the Trade Federation occupies Naboo) Christa Campbell. Please note that characters who may be alluded to but not referenced by name are considered too minor to be cast at this time, and readers should feel free to imagine them howsoever they wish! **5.)** Please keep in mind that handmaidens often tend to pair off, as is the case here, with Maitané Aldona and Tillé Levesin. **6.)** Speaking of pairings, I've labeled this story to indicate Padmé Amidala's love for Sabé, because, even though it may not be specifically mentioned in this character study piece, handmaid(en)s know so much about their sworn Lady that readers can be certain that Maitané, like all of Amidala's other handmaid(en)s, would have surely known about it! **7.)** Readers should please keep in mind that words that appear Gaelic in nature or else modelled on Gaelic terms are meant as place-holders for non-Basic words (in this case, Nabooian. If anything isn't clear from context, please just ask, and I'll send you an English approximation!) **8.)** **_Please note_** that most of the warnings on this piece exist due to the fact that Maitané especially and to some degree also Tillé “break” under torture. When I put the insanity tag on this, I was **specifically** thinking of Maitané, after all the torture. If references to torture tend to be triggering, dear readers, then you might want to consider giving this particular character study a pass! 
> 
> **Story Notes:** **1.)** Since this is part of a larger on-going AU series that in some respects fairly closely mirrors or follows events of canon (up to a certain point, anyway), readers should please keep in mind that certain characters and events from the prequel movies/novelizations of the films and even events/places/people referenced in the EU or Expanded Universe may be mentioned or alluded to in this story. If anyone has any questions about whether someone or something is AU, canon, or EU canon, please feel free to ask! **2.)** Readers should probably be aware that I am roughly estimating (guestimating might be a better word) the original publication date for most of the character study pieces in the **_You Became to Me_** series (and indeed most of my stories, especially the ones written over a long period of time), based on when I roughed out notes for them in the story notebooks I carry everywhere with me and when I can recall having worked on certain groups of characters. The year is going to be accurate, but the month might be off and the day will almost certainly be randomly chosen, since the online account I had originally posted many of these stories to no longer exists. I tend to go back and edit things that are in series whenever I get the time or a new idea causes me to have to make room for something else plot-wise, and odds are good that a story could have been edited for typos as recently as the day of its posting here, but the original version will likely be much older and fairly close to the publication date that I attach to it, if anyone's curious!

**“Maitané Aldona, Tenth Handmaiden in the Third Class for Padmé Amidala”**

 

 **01.) Children:** She was born the second of four children (two girls and then two boys) to parents who never should have had children, being entirely too lazy, too self-centered, and too volatile to be able to take care of themselves and each other properly, much less four little ones, and so, when she was four and her sister Sabetha was six, they agreed to testify in court as to the neglect and abuse all four children were routinely suffering, at home, so that their maternal grandparents could get them safely away from their parents and legally adopt them as their own, necessitating a change in last name from Correndai to Aldona.

 **02.) Ghosts:** When she’s very young – before she figures out how to shield herself well enough to filter out the constant flow of information from all of the silently inanimate everyday objects that surround her – she often has a hard time focusing on the outer, physical world, because her inner world is so very rich, kept company as she is by the ghosts of those who’ve gone before her, whispering to her of prior hopes and dreams and ideas and fancies with every casual touch to every age-worn object she can manage to get her hands (or at least some part of her body, preferably involving naked skin) on, and so she gains a reputation as a bit of a dreamer . . . and as someone who shines enough with the reflected glory of the Great Lady that she can ken the shape and tenor of people’s hearts and thoughts and know things about what has happened in the past that she should have no real way of knowing.

 **03.) Work:** She’s interested in social work, not politics; yet, as her sister, Sabetha, points out, the two fields often overlap and the politician can order things done for the people that an individual social worker might not be able to accomplish in a lifetime of work, and so, even though she does not think she resembles this new young Queen overly much – aside from the fact that they are both young teenagers (though she is just over fifteen and a half, to the Queen’s scant fourteen years of age), both brunette, both slender of build and on the slightly short side, height-wise, and both possessing of a heart-shaped face, given that she has blue eyes to the Queen’s brown, an upturned nose, naturally straight hair, a face that is every so slightly more narrow and perhaps just a hair longer, and a very slight dimple in her chin – she eventually concludes that her sister is right about the opportunities such a position could easily carry with it, and submits an application to be considered as a candidate for training as one of the Queen’s new handmaidens.

 **04.) Wonders:** She need not have worried about how much or how little she actually resembles the Queen, for cosmetics and specially designed clothing truly can do wonders: waterproof paint-on pseudo-skin can change the angle of a softer jaw to a harder, more angular line, can at least somewhat alter the shape of a nose, and can cause less prominent cheekbones to suddenly become full, high, and striking; little gel-like pads (of varying thickness) affixed to the inside of one’s cheeks or set carefully in place on one’s chin can eliminate the presence of dimples, give the face a fuller appearance, and remove all trace of a cleft or dimpled chin; an application of waterproof foundation can smooth out any discrepancies of texture or tone and give the skin a properly warm ivory cast, perfectly matching the color of the Queen’s skin; semi-permanent drops of dye can change the pupils and irises of one’s eyes to practically any color imaginable in all the worlds; the more permanent dye of certain color-crawlers can color the hair, making it match exactly the hue and sheen of the young Queen’s riotously curly hair, with curlers (or straighteners) to help solidify the semblance of congruency; laquer for the nails to match the Queen’s and a careful regiment of waxing, plucking, reshaping, and, if and when necessary, redrawing in or even applying false hair into the eyebrows likewise dress both the hands and the eyes after the fashion of Amidala’s; subtle shadings and applications of waterproof blush, lipstick and lip-liner, and perhaps, occasionally, even a bit of eyeshadow and kohl can complete the illusion of identical cheeks and eyes and mouths; shoes with varying thicknesses of soles and heels can adjust or minimize differences in height from that of Amidala’s, even while making it so that the Queen, herself, is closer in height to that of the overall average height of her handmaidens; and special undergarments cut so as to either softly and seemingly quite naturally pad or else minimize and bind the flesh so that the curves of a body in silhouette will seem to match that of the Queen all combine to do their work, so that, in the end, by the time the principal handmaidens are done with her – having plied their skills upon her and the others of her class to see how much they can be made to resemble the Queen – she and her fellows all look eerily alike . . . and almost uncannily like Padmé Amidala.

 **05.) Transformation:** As it turns out, they won’t be required to undergo the full transformation into virtual doppelgängers of one another and of the Queen just yet, nor even yet every day, once they have begun active service as full handmaidens or handmaids (as there is beginning to be a distinction between the two, based on one’s level of skill and one’s natural resemblance to and ability to successfully mimic the mannerisms of the Queen, though that distinction has not yet been formalized) to the Queen, for the Queen and her decoy, Sabé, both believe that it will be easier to pull off the switch and to camouflage the ability of the handmaidens to hide the Queen amongst their ranks, thus, if the handmaidens are all similar in appearance but possess small variations in height, eye color, hair color, facial features, etc., so that their similarity to each other and to the Queen will not become so visually striking as to be overpoweringly eerie and so seem obvious to the observer, and this means that, while they are all expected to meet with the principal handmaidens, again, after they’ve been reassigned to the Palace for active duty, so that they can undergo a partial, semi-permanent transformation designed to allow the handmaidens to all blend softly together into a crowd of unobtrusive young woman of similar age and appearance, until then, they are allowed to wear their own faces as they please, if they wish.

 **06.) Back:** The Naberrie Lake House Retreat on Varykino is exquisite, and she could happily stay there for months on end, doing anything that might be required of her to earn her keep, but they are scheduled to be there no longer than three weeks of rapid testing and training before being sent back to the Palace, and so she simply sighs wistfully to herself and vows to enjoy her stay while she can, for however long it might last.

 **07.) Notice:** She knows she isn’t the first to notice how similar the oaths required of the Queen’s new handmaidens have been made to resemble the oaths of old, when those who protected the elected monarch of Naboo served as much as religious acolytes and guards as they did as ladies-in-waiting and helpmeets or companions of the ruler, and the apparent intent to allow them to partner amongst themselves as bonded free-mates (likely both to replace any lack in their lives from the absence of the families they will have forsworn, by devoting their lives to the protection of the Queen, and also to bind them even more closely together, as a family unit, by allowing them lovers and unofficial wives, as well as sisters in arms); however, she seems to be the first to have noticed a fellow potential handmaiden trainee in her class by the name of Tillé Levesin, and she is immensely gratified to learn that Tillé has also taken notice of her.

 **08.) Dream:** Her fifth night at the Varykino villa she has an awful dream about monstrous droids and a lowering cloud of darkness writhing with evil and pain descending on her beautiful planet and swallowing it whole, and, when she wakes, panting harshly with exertion and trembling with repressed screams, she knows, absolutely, that something terrible is about to happen, and that they are not going to be in this place for very much longer.

 **09.) Overwhelm:** The fury and hatred and mind-numbing avarice and soul-chilling _wrongness_ being radiated out into the throne room in waves from the likes of Lietté and Roché and Essé and Rosé, combined with the agony and sorrow and fear and anger and vengeful hatred of those who have been killed or wounded, in the attempt to carry out the Queen’s order to scatter and go to ground, to help form a core of rebellion against the invading Trade Federation, overwhelms her shields and roots her into place by Tillé’s side, rendering her both completely unable to even try to obey her Queen’s command and utterly useless in the fracas that occurs, after some have tried to obey (with mixed success) and the traitorous turncoats in their midst thereafter attempt (also with mixed success) to capture their former fellows for deliverance to the Trade Federation, as a token of their esteem and a sign of their willingness to cooperate with their new masters.

 **10.) Darkness:** The darkness in the tiny suite (really a small bedroom with an even smaller bathroom attached at one end and an empty antechamber attached at the other) that has been made into their cell doesn’t bother her nearly as much as it does Tillé, likely because she became used to the dark as a child, when her parents still had charge of her and her siblings, and so she spends most of her time holding and reassuring Tillé of her presence and offering her the comfort of soft touches to reinforce the fact that someone very close cares a great deal about her and wants to help ease her pain.

 **11.) Love:** They make love the first night in their cell, exploring one another’s bodies quietly, slowly, and reverently but quite thoroughly, teaching one another what each most likes (Tillé has surprisingly sensitive feet and loves to have her neck and ears kissed and licked and nibbled upon; Maitané can be driven wild by even the softest of touches to her breasts and easily made to orgasm by a mouth pulling on one nipple while clever fingers roll and pinch the other), declaring their burgeoning love for one another, reaffirming the fact that they are alive and not alone, and offering one another as much comfort and caring and distraction as they can, sleeping tangled together and so sweetly exhausted that neither one of them has any foul dreams, despite the events they witnessed during their capture.

 **12.) Interrogation:** Essé and Rosé are sociopathic little bitches, and she is determined not to give them the pleasure of her fear, no matter how much they leer and snarl at them, but Lietté . . . Lietté is, quite simply, primarily a pure psychopath, intelligent and charismatic, true, but pathologically egocentric, malignantly narcissistic, manipulative, callous, easily bored and constantly needing the thrill of more and more stimulation (however it may be gotten), utterly lacking in anything at all resembling a conscience, and, worse of all, a pure sadist (liable to experience not remorse or horror but rather joy and orgasm at the infliction of pain or even death upon another thinking, feeling being) through and through, and she knows, with a sickeningly absolute certainty, that Tillé will not survive an interrogation with Lietté.

 **13.) Pain:** Pain and pain and pain and pain and ( _Tillé, for you, for you, my love, I offer myself up so that she will not take you and murder you out of hand –_ ) pain and ( _Great Goddess, please, no more, I don’t know if I can bear any more –_ ) **pain** and pain and pain and pain and ( _ **. . . ! . . .**_ ) pure blazing agony, white, _**white**_ , snow-blind in an eternal Hoth ice storm of suffering, anguish, an adamant thunderbolt of purely distilled agony, rending, shattering, rendering, remaking as diamond-shards of pain, soul/spirit/mind/flesh rent unnaturally, hideously apart, spilling out into nothingness, nothingness, nothingness . . .

 **14.) Gone:** “Two by two, hands of red from those we slew, make a bed of explosives, poison gas, make a wish, light the blast, choking smoke and bombs go boom, give the traitors all their due, faces mottled purple-blue, bad ones gone, detonators set to go, ringed round and round and round about with sharpened stones and nails and knives for shrapnel, squish, squish, make a wish, evil ones dead and gone and we are done, O, what fun, when two by two, hands of red from those we slew . . . ”

 **15.) Lucidity:** Desperate press of flesh to and around her, lips molding themselves to hers . . . impression: love, fear, sorrow, righteous anger, love, disappointment that it should come to this, love, flicker of hatred, love, grief for time together lost, love, _love_ , **_love_** , **love** , and oh, O, but a moment of lucidity, calm in the midst of storm, gift given in love, time enough to think, _Oh, my Queen! Forgive me, Milady, for I loved you,_ ríoghan _, and I failed you, in my weakness. My sister, my family! Forgive me, my_ clannachd _, for I was not strong enough, and I have failed you. My love, my beloved, my_ cariad o’nhgariad _, my_ fíor grá-mór _, my_ cariodal _, my Tillé, forgive me! All I wanted to do was to protect you from that traitorous_ saidhín _, Lietté, but I was not strong enough to do it, and I failed you, and I have been a burden to you, and I am sorry, so sorry, so very sorry, my heart, my_ muilaidh _, my_ am’chara _,_ ma’chara _, my dearest darling one! O, Great Lady, do not judge this one harshly for what she has done, for she has been forced to do it on account of my weakness! Have mercy on we who are about to die and so join You, by our deaths . . ._ just before a flash of blinding light swallows her and her soul’s mate whole.

**Author's Note:**

>  **Clarification Note:** One of the reasons why my AU **Star Wars** series _**You Became to Me**_ is so entirely not even nearly complete has to do with the fact that I really started writing at the wrong end of the prequel trilogy for an AU (in my defense, though, when I started what became my _Thwarting the Revenge of the Sith_ trio, which is over a million words long, I thought I was doing a sort of one-shot fix-it based on an idea I got for "fixing" RotS by changing something that happens very near the end of James Luceno's EU novel _Labyrinth of Evil_ , which is set immediately prior to RotS). One of these days, I fully intend to rectify that problem by going back and starting from the beginning, with an AU rewrite of TPM, which is why I took the time to do a character study sketch for a supporting character like Maitané. She'll be showing up again, in a more prominent role, whenever I get around to that AU rewrite of TPM. Folks might want to keep that in mind when reading this, since technically this is spoilerish for an AU novel that I haven't gotten around to writing yet!


End file.
